Too High A Price to Pay
by Cielita
Summary: After the end of the movie, Memphis decides to stay in Long Beach. It has been years now and he and Sway are married. Life has been relatively quiet with respect to the fact that Caletri is dead, but there is one dispute left unresolved and it may cost


Too High a Price to Pay  
Gone in 60 Seconds Fan Fiction  
Movie Sequel  
August 2001  
Rating: we're probably looking at PG-13 for the violence if not the language.  
Pairings: Memphis/Sway, Otto/Junie (of course)  
Summary: After the end of the movie, Memphis decides to stay in Long Beach. It has been years now and he and Sway are married. Life has been relatively quiet with respect to the fact that Caletri is dead, but there is one dispute left unresolved and it may cost the life of someone Memphis holds dear...  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
HONK! HONK! A horn blared outside Otto Halliwell's garage. His wife, Junie, was watching the front desk and watched a shell white, Porsche 911 pull into the driveway. Stopping her filing for a moment she watched the graceful machine as it gleamed in the sun. She hardly noticed the beat-up black car pulling up to the service department. Tucking a segment of short red hair behind her ear, she bent down to finish the filing. The little bell on the door told her someone had come in, so she stood to answer it.  
"Can I help you, gentlemen?" Junie asked, pulling out a new work order.  
"That depends, baby. How quiet can you be?" said the black man before her. Junie looked up and saw the 9mm gun in his hand, and the gas can and lighters that his companions carried. She glanced back at the garage area, her husband happily restoring a gorgeous classic car, their employees working hard. What could she do? If she screamed to them, warned them of the danger, she could be shot and they would blow the shop up. If she went with them, they might still blow the shop up. There was no way out. The first man motioned with his gun for her to come with them.  
Slowly, Junie moved around the counter and within the grasp of the men. The first one motioned for the others to go in back. Junie panicked, and pulled at his grip but it was too late, she fought to turn and look as the other men preoccupied Otto while one of them lit a long fuse and led it to the gas can. The four men ran moments before the garage exploded. Junie screamed from the car, unable to stop the tears that flooded from her eyes. With the amount of cars in the garage that day and the extra gas can, there was no way anyone could have survived.  
  
LOCAL GARAGE BURNS-THREE PERISH IN FIRE  
  
Randall Raines lifted his cup of coffee and looked over the paper. There were lots of garages in the area, so he had to sit down when he saw that it had been Otto's shop.  
"Sway!" Randall called to his wife. Even after their marriage, he still enjoyed using her familiar nickname. From their upstairs bedroom, Sarah Wayland Raines came down, still adjusting her baby tee shirt and jeans.   
"What is it, baby?" she asked, stopping on her way to the kitchen.   
"Otto's shop burned yesterday." He said, still glancing at the paper. There was a pause before she could answer.  
"You gotta be shittin' me." Sway said, pulling the paper out of his hand. Married life still hadn't taken the edge off her attitude or her vocabulary. And that's just the way Randall or "Memphis" liked it.  
"He lost three of his employees. He's in the hospital but they're planning to release him in a day or two." Memphis continued.  
"My God. Memphis, they took Junie. Whoever did this took her and then left a gas can in the shop on a fuse. Son of a bitch!" She said. "The place burned to the ground. Otto's lucky to be alive."  
"We should go see him." Memphis said, and Sway agreed. The punks that pulled this off had just dug themselves a very deep hole.   
Memphis and Sway walked into the hospital and found Otto's room. Their friend was awake, and obviously had not seen sleep for quite a while. He had been mourning the loss of his friends and employees, and the loss of his business. But the deepest fear in Otto's eyes was plain to decipher. Memphis and Sway had never seen Otto so upset.  
"They took my Junie." He said, his eyes staring through the window. "They burned my business and they killed my employees. Memphis, I'm so mad I can't see straight." Said Otto. His voice wavered with emotions as he spoke. "What would someone want with my wife?"  
"There was a ransom?" asked Sway.  
"Yeah. They left a note outside." Said Otto.  
"Did they leave any demands?" asked Memphis.  
"..."  
"Otto-what did they say they wanted?" Memphis repeated.  
"You. They want you to race them. Whoever can steal the most cars in one night. The winner walks away with the record and my wife's life. If we lose, they hold the record and..." Otto fought to finish his sentence; it was too painful to think about.  
"They'll bury her alive."  
"We'll get them, Otto. I swear." Said Memphis. He told Otto to rest; he would need his strength for the boost. With this, Memphis Raines was back in the car boost business, but what would happen this time? Last time they had been lucky. Detective Castlebeck had been too slow, but this time he may not be so slow to catch up to them.   
Memphis and Sway walked hand in hand into the Quality Café. Helen Raines, Memphis's mother, stopped what she was doing to accept the hugs from her son and daughter-in-law.   
"I heard about what happened to Otto and Junie. You're not thinking about doing it again, are you?" Helen asked, giving her son a concerned look. She knew that her boys were the two best car boosts in the world, but even this was too large to contemplate.   
"What else can I do?" Memphis asked softly.  
"I gave you my blessing last time, but that was your brother we were talking about...." Helen began.  
"This is a woman's life, mom." Said Sway, covering Helen's hand with her own. "We wish there was another way but there isn't. They'll kill her if we don't."  
"And what if they kill you?" Helen said, a tear coursing down her cheek.   
"That's a chance that I take every time I go out there." Memphis said.  
"You don't even know who you're dealing with!" she pleaded. But she couldn't talk them out of it. The two returned to their home to make the necessary phone calls.  
"Oh, man, you gotta be..." Kip didn't even finish before his brother interrupted him.   
"No, I'm not shitting you. You read the paper." Said Memphis. "What do you say, are you and your crew in?"   
"Yeah, we're in. Otto saved my life. I owe it to him to return the favor." Said Kip. Memphis hung up and circled Kip, Mirror Man, Toby and Tumbler. At the same time, Sway put down her cell phone and said, "Donny is officially in. Did you call Sphinx?"  
"Dialing him now." Said Memphis.  
By the time Otto was out of the hospital, Memphis and Sway had assembled the team. By the time they all met at the abandoned warehouse that Memphis had chosen, Otto was ready to supervise and the team was ready and raring to go.   
"Okay, this boost is going to be a little different from the last one. We are trying to set a record for the most cars boosted in one night. Make, model, year, color, none of that matters. We are primarily looking for ease of the boost, precision, and speed. We meet our opponents tonight and lay down the rest of the guidelines. This meeting is also for us to ensure that Junie is alive."  
"What if she isn't?" Asked Donny.   
"I don't know. All I do know is that if she were dead, they wouldn't be challenging us. We need to be together in this. If not for the sake of the record, then for Junie. She's counting on us, guys." Said Memphis.   
"When's the boost? Are we doing this all in one night again?" asked Kip.  
"Yeah. We have to. We'll meet them that night in a place determined at the meeting tonight." Said Memphis. The team nodded, their game faces on, and determination clear in their eyes.  
"I want to go with you." Said a familiar voice behind them. The team turned at saw Otto there, as ready to go and tackle the challenge as they were.  
"We can't let you do that, Otto. We can't risk losing you too." Said Sway.  
"She's my wife!" said Otto, losing the battle to keep his tears in check.  
"We know, Otto. Just listen up. I have a plan." Said Memphis. Half an hour later, the team loaded up and set out for the first meeting.   
  
~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@  
  
They checked the walky-talkies on the way, and pulled up to the old airport right on time. There were several other cars parked outside, and Sway shuddered as they came into sight of a large wooden box and several other people.   
"Son of a bitch, I should have known." Said Memphis. Johnny B, who had been Memphis's competitor when he was a professional car boost stood with his familiar stance and his own henchmen behind him. Weakened cries for help came from the box, and Memphis and Sway had every idea who it was. As Memphis and the others began the meeting, Sway used her walky-talky to call back to the warehouse.  
"You there, Otto?" Sway murmured as she approached the box.  
"Yeah, Sway, I'm here." He replied.  
"Stand by." Sway said. She approached the box carefully. There was a large round hole in the top, obviously meant for ventilation. Sway reached a hand into the box and got a hold of a pair of trembling hands.  
"Junie? Is that you?" Sway asked gently.  
"Sway?" her voice came, obviously tired from fighting and crying.  
"We're all here, Junie. We're gonna get you out of here." She said, squeezing Junie's hand.   
"What for? No one survived that explosion." Junie whimpered. Sway realized what she meant and tears fell from her clear blue eyes. She thought Otto was dead. For her, Otto was her love and her life; without him, she couldn't imagine living.  
"Still there?" Sway said into the walky-talky.  
"Yeah, Sway, standing by." Said Otto.  
"I have someone hear who needs to hear your voice." She said, leaning the walky-talky within earshot of the woman. Otto's heart caught in his throat-Junie was alive!  
"Go ahead, Otto, say something." Sway prompted.  
"June...Junie? Is that you, darlin'?" Otto stuttered, not really sure what to say. Junie gasped in shock.  
"Otto? My God, is-is it really you?" she wept. Hot tears spilled over her cheeks, unable to believe that it was true. "I thought you were dead!"  
Otto couldn't respond. He had to remove his glasses and let his own tears fall from his ruddy face.  
"Me too." He finally said. Both listened as each cried, both happy just to hear each other's voices. It was Otto who eventually spoke again.  
"I...I love you, Junie."  
"Oh, Otto!"  
The two were still crying when Sway was forced to go back to rejoin the rest of the group. She was still brushing tears away from her eyes when she reached Memphis's side.  
"Is she okay?" he asked. Sway nodded.  
"So we're straight," said Memphis to his opponent, "we meet back here tomorrow at sunset and the crew with the most cars by sunrise wins. No surprises, no interference, and we choose our teams. All the cars come back here in separate hangars and each of us has a representative in the hangar to count."  
"You got it, Baby." Said Johnny B. "And if you and your crew lose, we get the record and the doll gets to take a long nap." He gestured to a cement truck nearby that had been out of sight until then. If Johnny B did somehow trick them, there would be no way for them to save Junie. She would be crushed beneath a ton of wet concrete and shards of wooden box.  
The team returned to their homes, but none of them could sleep. They knew that Otto was awake, with an empty space beside him where his Junie should be. Tumbler, Toby and Mirror Man spent the night at Kip's place, none of them wanting to believe that there was nothing else they could do to save Junie. They spent the night hashing out every rescue plan they could come up with, but nothing was workable.   
"Man, I can't imagine what the two of them were thinking for two days. I can't imagine thinking that my wife was dead." Said Kip, setting his beer bottle in the sink.   
"You're sure we can't just sneak out there and spring her? Look what you did to Johnny B and his car that one night! You attached a wrecking chain to his front axle and ripped out the drive shaft, the tranny and everything. Why can't we..."   
"Because we CAN'T, Tumbler! We can't do anything that would jeopardize this! If we try anything, they'll kill her, bonehead!" Kip screamed. The others only sat in disbelief.  
"Man, this is gonna suck!" Said Mirror Man.  
Far away, Memphis and Sway cuddled beneath the covers of their bed, neither really able to sleep. Sway rolled over, facing away from her husband. Memphis rolled closer to her, running his hand over her bare arm.   
"What is it, sweetheart?" Memphis whispered.  
"I can't sleep, babe. Not when Junie is spending another night in a box." Sway said. Memphis kissed her ear lightly, which he knew she liked. She smiled momentarily, leaning into his embrace.   
"I couldn't keep from crying out there tonight, Memphis. I realized that both of them thought the other was gone and literally lost their will to live. I will never forget what it was like to bring them back together. They cried, babe." Sway said.  
"We'll make this happen, Sway. We have to. She's going to be okay." Memphis murmured, kissing Sway's cheek and falling asleep with his arms around her, happy that it hadn't been her. He would have tracked Johnny B down himself and made him pay.  
  
~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^  
  
The following day, at sunset, the team set up in their hangar at the old airport, deciding to leave Toby in the hangar to count the cars as they came in. It was not going to be pretty.   
"There's no minimum, Memphis. It's just a matter of getting more cars than them. This is really not going to be good." Said Donny, shaking his head. The teams gathered outside in lines. They watched as Johnny's guys lowered Junie down into the hole dug for the box. It had been for emphasis on how grave the stakes were, and it was working. Memphis was glad they hadn't brought Otto. He'd have gone AWOL. Junie was screaming. She was terrified; she hadn't slept in two days and hadn't eaten in 30 hours.   
Both teams departed at the same time, but only one had done their homework. Johnny B's team had decided they could do the job with only five people, and Memphis had his crew of eight. With one in the hangar, they had a crew of seven. This was going to be an interesting night.  
"And the score looks like this...we have a grand total of 25 and I count 20 on their side." Said a triumphant Toby. It had been only 3 hours into the night, and it seemed like another car arrived every few minutes. It was exhilarating, and the rest of the team was soaking it up like a sponge.  
Downtown, Sway was at a stoplight. The car she was driving was a gorgeous red Lamborghini. She figured that as long as they were setting the record, they might as well set one for taste too.   
"You always were a sucker for a redhead." Memphis teased her.   
"You wanna race me, asshole?" Sway muttered toward the car next to her. It was revving its engines and the driver gave her a daring look and a wink. The light turned green and both drivers floored it. The other car was no match for the Lamborghini, but Sway's eyes caught a flash in the distance and she dropped back, taking a side street and watching to see the other driver getting a very generous ticket for his efforts. Sway winked in her rear-view mirror, though she knew the other driver couldn't have seen.  
"That wasn't smart, honey." Memphis said over the walky-talky.  
"He got caught, babe, I didn't." Sway said, continuing to the airport. Toby could hear the man in Johnny B's hangar screaming. One of their men had picked a race with another car and had been caught. Sway grinned and ribbed her husband.   
"I told you it would be okay."   
  
#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^  
  
"Man, if we don't win this thing..." Mirror Man began.  
"If we don't win this thing I'll dig her out of that hole with my bare hands. Junie ain't gonna die b'cause o'me or anybody else." Said Donny, leading his friends toward a fenced yard.  
"Donny, what are we doin'?" asked Mirror Man.  
"Remember the last boost?" said Donny.   
"What about it?"  
"We stole three Mercedes from the police impound. What's keepin' us from doin' it again?" Donny said as they tore the whiteout paper from the fence. Inside the yard were all of the LAPD squad cars and low and behold-the SWAT team's shiny, navy blue Hummer.   
"What are you, dude, crazy?" Mirror Man hissed. Sphinx 'convinced' the gate to open and the three tiptoed toward their prize.  
They were just about inside when a spotlight flooded the immediate area in blinding light.  
"Shit!" Mirror Man yelled, dropping into the back of the hummer. Sphinx started the car and they headed for the fence. They could hear gunshots from the nearby impound yard tower, shots that bounced off the heavy armor of the HumVee. Sphinx extended a hand out the window, producing a SPAS12 shotgun. The heavy Hummer slid to a stop and Sphinx took only seconds to aim and shoot. Seconds later, the searchlight went out.  
Donny and Mirror Man looked at each other in shock, their mouths wide open.   
"You got a license for that there shotgun, buddy?" Donny squeaked. Sphinx simply shrugged. It was the end of the conversation. The navy blue Hummer sped off into the night toward the airport, 2 am closing quickly in.  
"Forty-eight, forty-nine," Toby counted as Sphinx and the others brought the Hummer and a sleek Lincoln Park Avenue. "We may break our own record tonight too!"  
"Don't get your hopes up, Toby." Said Sway. She knew better. She stared out the wide-open hangar door toward the looming hole in the ground. She wanted more than anything to go over and talk to Junie, but the area was heavily guarded, and any such move would look like interference, and she wasn't about to risk it. Junie had worn her voice out long ago, and she must have fallen asleep, because there wasn't a sound coming from the box. Sway just wanted the night to be over. She hadn't been feeling well, and the lack of sleep was not doing her any good.   
  
%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%  
  
"Last time we tried to boost an SUV we just about got our asses shot, Kip." Said Tumbler. They took Mirror Man's frequency finder and opened the garage door. They slipped inside and softly began to open the car and hot wire the ignition. It was a beautiful Cadillac Escalade, and the leather seats were more than inviting. What they didn't know, is that someone was tailing them as they dropped out of the driveway and drove inconspicuously away.   
"I see you, horse's ass." Said Kip, spying the following car's headlights. Kip applied a little more speed and got around the next corner, pulling quickly into a driveway. The car drove by, thank God, and Kip and Tumbler let their breath out in big long puffs.   
"Man, that was close." Said Tumbler.  
"Yeah, let's hope it wasn't too close." Said Kip. They made it back to the airport and parked the SUV right behind the Hummer.   
"No matter how much I do this, I can't get used to not thinking about the people we're stealing from. They're losing their transportation-their independence. I know we're doing this for Junie, but we have to somehow get the cars back to the owners or something." Said Kip.  
"That's called an anonymous tip, brother." said Donny. Kip nodded. He glanced out toward the other hangar. Toby had long since lost count of the other team's cars, but fervently prayed that his own team had enough.   
  
@#@#@#@#@#@#@#@#@#@#@#@#@#@#@#@#@#  
  
Sun-up was approaching and Toby was noticing a lag in the number of cars going into their opponent's hangar-he fought not to get his hopes up. Could they be winning?   
Far away, Memphis and Sway smoothly dropped into a gorgeous, cherry red, Dodge Viper. Sway laughed as her husband unscrewed the steering wheel and removed the club. He grinned devilishly as he replaced the steering wheel and his wife hot-wired the ignition. They reveled in the sound of the engine as Memphis put the car in gear and they sped away.   
"You know, this has been too easy. We've only been chased three times. Something's up." Said Sway.  
"You think something's up?" said Memphis. He was wise enough by now to trust his bride's killer instinct.  
"Maybe. It could just be my imagin-..." she was cut off by a sudden jolt from a car nearby. The two glared out the driver's side to see another car ramming them.  
"Sweet Jesus." Memphis muttered. They were on a bridge--if Johnny B wanted to badly enough, he could ram Memphis and Sway off the bridge and into the churning waters below. Momentarily, Sway played out what would happen to them in her mind. For a fraction of a second her hand touched her middle.  
"What's wrong?" Memphis said as they braced for another impact. Sway brushed him off and the tussle continued.  
"Baby, you are the man that out-ran the LAPD in a speeding Ford Mustang. You can't tell me that this Dodge Viper can't get us out of this." Sway prompted. Memphis put his foot down and the Viper flew ahead of Johnny. He slowly gained on them, finally coming within range of their bumper.  
BANG!  
The bumper on the Viper crumpled like notebook paper. Sway and Memphis fought to stay in their seats. Finally, Johnny B got up to speed and came up at just the right angle to their back wheels.   
CRUNCH!  
Memphis lost control of the Viper and they slammed through the guard-wall. They didn't go all the way through, and the sun was plainly on it's way. Carefully, Memphis and Sway crawled out of the Viper and onto the concrete sidewalk. It was a painstaking process, and they called over the walky-talkies to get one of the guys to come and get them, arriving just as the sun was coming up.  
  
@@@***@@@***@@@***@@@***@@@***@@@***@@@***@@@  
  
Both teams lined up outside their respective hangars. The sun had risen, and now it was time to see who had won. Toby emerged from their hangar with their numbers and Johnny B emerged from his hangar, more than a bit angry to see Memphis and Sway alive.  
"Well, baby, whacha got?" Johnny B asked. Memphis wouldn't even flinch.  
"You first."  
"Fifty-two cars, baby. That there's two more than you pulled off for the Caletri job." Johnny B smiled, his gold teeth showing proudly in the early morning sunlight. He folded his arms across his chest and waited for the numbers to declare that he was the winner. Toby came forward and stood toe-to-toe with Johnny B. His teammates stood motionless in tense anticipation.  
"Sixty-five." Toby growled.  
Memphis and his team erupted into relieved celebration. He motioned to Kip, who had taken the place of the other crane operator, to pull the box out of the pit. Kip gratefully acknowledged.   
Without warning, Johnny B ran for the handle that released the cement truck's trough. The team screamed as two tons of concrete dropped into the hole. Kip fought valiantly to keep the box in the harness. Another board had been placed over the ventilation hole, and Junie wouldn't have very much air left if any at all. Even under all that strain, Kip managed to get the box out of danger's grasp. Unfortunately, Johnny B escaped in the fray, but what mattered to them was that box.  
After much banging, pulling, and pushing, and more determination than any of them thought possible, the box yielded to them, and the top came off. Gently, Memphis reached in and lifted Junie out, who had fallen unconscious from hunger and pure exhaustion. They nursed her a while, wrapping her in a blanket and waking her long enough to drink some water. She was now conscious, however still too weak to move.   
Memphis and Sway pulled up to Otto and Junie's home hours after they had rescued her. Otto had gone home after so long in radio silence, terrified that the effort had failed. He forced himself to think the worst, and was beginning to mourn his beloved wife. Now, in the early morning, the knock on the door was the last thing he expected. When he saw Memphis and Sway, he eagerly opened the door. Junie had recovered enough to be able to stand and walk slowly, so Memphis shepherded her to the door. Otto and Junie saw one another and it was like the whole world stood still for a moment.   
Otto reached for her, tears once again springing to his eyes. Trembling, he took her face in his hands and gently pulled her closer as if to make sure she was real. Gathering her in his arms he held her tight, both of them now crying thankful tears. Junie pulled back a bit, lightly caressed his face and kissed him. Memphis and Sway could only watch. Sway was crying again, this time, from happiness.   
Walking back to their car, Memphis's cherished 1967 Shelby Mustang GT 500, Sway waited until both doors had closed to ask her husband a question she had waited all week to ask.  
"So, do you think the world is ready for another Raines?"  
She would never forget the look on his face.  
  
**THE END**  
  
  
**EPILOGUE**  
Months later Memphis and Sway had their first child. After much deliberation as to what to name the baby (there was quite the debate in the waiting room, just ask Donny) a decision was made...  
******HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELEANOR HELEN RAINES!*****   
  
  



End file.
